The week past was mostly damp and dark, full with puddles, rain, sloshy, slicky, shivery… a bit glum atmospherically, with a halo of sunshine finally breaking through in the weekend. So many around here are relieved to finally escape the confines of the four walls of winter after the melting of the snow and a mild warm-up to above the freezing point– not escape much, but at least to poke out of doors like tentative turtles checking the surroundings.

And then came Wednesday night Bible study, with provoking words of life, and then Sunday, with inspiring worship, and more words of life, like food, morsels of bread to chew and to spur us on to deeper places.
I’m in here, indoors, enveloped by fleece, surrounded by children heart-love…and thrilled with the order of books, just in.

And I’m looking forward to moments and hours of learning, searching, answering, asking, thinking, wondering… all through the mystery of words, arranged in ways to cause the soul to wonder, think, imagine, hope, learn. All arranged in ways that expose the truth easily missed amidst the mud puddles.

I am…learning. A soul in progress. And it’s so good to be here, in this place, so good. Not in a stagnant pool of dead water, but in a place where a current is flowing… where words of life are the bubbles of oxygen that my soul needs to breathe– not just breathe, but grow and thrive. Words of life– his words to me– sustain me. And all the other words written by other hands, that point to him through the mystery of language… this, I love. Partaking in this feast– is it a choice, now? Yes– but, no—not of obligation– but this, I love, I long to do, and it is not so much a choice, as it is a necessity, a longing, a Friend whom I must “see”, something I simply “do” because I want to. As a sunflower leans into the sun, I too, grow when I incline His way. It is, really, the way he wired his people, to receive our lifeblood from him, and to look in any other direction for the soul’s fulfillment is to end up dry and thirsty and with veins that pulse a sticky mire of want.

And now it’s Monday, magnificent Monday, when I share of moments of joy and beauty that have shown me the hand and heart of God.

#53-#78:

53. fleece, warm and soft — just the thing for a chilly midwestern, ahem, “spring”

54. a fixed computer glitch

55. a surprise 40th birthday party for a friend

56. “mom, this penny was ~born~ in 2010!”

57. “mom, can we go to the ~concussion~ stand?”

58.  listening to beginning musicians around here practice their music– and observing that there has been progress!

59. worship music on the radio

60. dark chocolate… I adore dark chocolate!

61. the internet

62. “mom, will you play chess with me?”

63. “mom, can you help me with this?”

64. soul-rest for my weary self when I cry ABBA

65. learning somethings new about rest; how it’s a gift for us to receive, not something we must somehow achieve

66. finding the holes in my faith and asking God to fill them up

67. hearing different languages spoken

68. that hearts can be seen through words

69. the library; wishing I could camp out there a few weekends each year

70. that God sees to the littlest of details

71. the handmade flowers sewn by creative daughter who amazes me with all that she makes with her hands

72. for my new favorite: soy latte with honey

73. a newly arrived book order; the sound of the spine crackling, the smell of new ink and paper, and the soft whip of flipping pages

74. the dear boy’s cowlick that just won’t stay down no matter what

75. moments in which I drink in all that is beautiful and good and give thanks for them

76. training my mind to redirect to have more of those kinds of moments

77. the grass is still showing bits of green, even after hiding for months under a sheath of white

78. for laughter, which is really good medicine for the soul

Writing today as part of A Holy Experience — Multitudes on Mondays: